General comments about the Best Minerals forumIf you have comments or suggestions about the Best Minerals forum, this thread is a good place to put them. If you have comments or suggestions about specific minerals or minerals from specific localities you might better place them in the particular thread that deals with them or start a thread of your own. Initially this forum is only available to managers on Mindat, but in time it is hoped that it will be opened to all Mindat users.http://www.mindat.org/forum.php?read,63,120714,120714#msg-120714
Tue, 31 Mar 2015 21:52:19 +0100Phorum 5.2.15ahttp://www.mindat.org/forum.php?read,63,120714,142660#msg-142660Re: General comments about the Best Minerals forumhttp://www.mindat.org/forum.php?read,63,120714,142660#msg-142660
Rock CurrierBest Minerals - GeneralTue, 23 Jun 2009 03:29:38 +0100http://www.mindat.org/forum.php?read,63,120714,142620#msg-142620Re: General comments about the Best Minerals forumhttp://www.mindat.org/forum.php?read,63,120714,142620#msg-142620
Harjo NeutkensBest Minerals - GeneralMon, 22 Jun 2009 22:28:54 +0100http://www.mindat.org/forum.php?read,63,120714,142601#msg-142601Re: General comments about the Best Minerals forumhttp://www.mindat.org/forum.php?read,63,120714,142601#msg-142601
Should we allow one or two line spacings between lines of images. I generally like to use one line. You like to use two. You use one line after the bold face species locality block at the head of each section before the first picture. Would it not be consistent to use one space to separate the images rather than two?]]>Rock CurrierBest Minerals - GeneralMon, 22 Jun 2009 20:32:11 +0100http://www.mindat.org/forum.php?read,63,120714,142584#msg-142584Re: General comments about the Best Minerals forumhttp://www.mindat.org/forum.php?read,63,120714,142584#msg-142584
You've got a point in the bold text, from now on I'll make every line bold seperately.

Cheers

Harjo]]>Harjo NeutkensBest Minerals - GeneralMon, 22 Jun 2009 19:06:20 +0100http://www.mindat.org/forum.php?read,63,120714,142499#msg-142499Re: General comments about the Best Minerals forumhttp://www.mindat.org/forum.php?read,63,120714,142499#msg-142499
I can understand how such a small thing as a line spacing between the Species/Locality block at the top of every section could offend you. I know exactly what you are talking about. When I have gone in and tweaked your articles, I have purposely, I think in most cases left that extra line space in place. I agree that your articles look better than mine and that is your artistic training showing. Yes, I agree that we should agree on a format that is consistent, however I have been reluctant to crack down on the various authors that are doing the writing because I didn't want to discourage them by seeming to be a nut case about an extra line space here or there. The reason that I have set the Species/Locality blocks right on top of the pictures or at least the first picture or two is because I wonder if it might be easier for a programmer to pick up the pictures and text as a block for some sort of sorting in the future, but am not sure that this would make any difference in or not. I agree that we should put a space after the Species/Locality blocks before the pictures. I am also inclined to put two spaces after the end of each Species/Locality/Picture/Text block before the start of the next Species/Locality block. Do you understand what I am talking about? So we agree? It looks like we are doing most of the article generation at this point, and if we agree and keep it consistent I think it will encourage the others to also do it that way. I always bold each line of the Species Locality Block and you tend to bold them as a group. I think if we bold each line individual of the others that it makes it easier to copy and paste each line or lines without having to worry about a stray bit of bold code that will screw of the formatting. You use standard height designations so all your pictures are exactly the same height. I adjust the height of my images by tweaking the width of my images. I'm not sure which way is best, but as long as the heights are pretty close I don't think that makes any difference. As for linking all the species and localities to their mindat pages I think is a lot of extra unnecessary work. I do link the species at the top of each article to its data page. I argue that if the user really wants to get to the species or locality pages for any particular species or locality, all they have to do is to click on the image or the caption below the image and they will be taken to the full image where the species and the locality pages can be accessed by clicking on them. What else do we need to discuss about the formatting? What say you?

You know we really need a good editor to go through the text of our articles, correct errors and point out sections of text where the ideas are not expressed clearly and need to be re written. I have tried to do a little of this, but again don't want to discourage the authors needlessly. The different styles of writing I think add a nice flavor the the project. At this point I think it is important to get something down for a lot of the common minerals so that they can act as repositories for adding data as we run across it. If a thread is already established, it make a very convenient place to drop information that we pick up in the Message board forms and makes it easy for anyone to contribute their thoughts as well. I would encourage you to create new threads when you run across stray bits of interesting information about minerals where we have no threads started. When I start these threads, I always start them with the plea for people to help us followed by the species in bold with the chemical formula and crystal system below that and then below that I select a good picture of that particular species and stick that in the startup thread. This at least will give users something to look at when they click on that thread.]]>Rock CurrierBest Minerals - GeneralMon, 22 Jun 2009 04:54:57 +0100http://www.mindat.org/forum.php?read,63,120714,142473#msg-142473Re: General comments about the Best Minerals forumhttp://www.mindat.org/forum.php?read,63,120714,142473#msg-142473
Apart from the content (which should be good and up to date) and the photographs we should also consider the aesthetics of the articles. For instance, I don't really like it very much when header and caption texts are sticking to a photo, I'd rather have a line of space in between. Maybe I'm kind of a nut case in this (before studying music I graduated from the academy of arts....maybe that spoiled me) but I really like it when the articles have a clean appearance, it's so much more fun to read.I also like it when the names of the locality (not the country..) are linked to their respective Mindat pages.I know, it all is a lot of extra work but I think the articles benefit from it.If you want to know how I would like it you can have a look at the Emerald, Schalenblende, Millerite, Anatase, Ferristrunzite, Vantasselite or Belgian Calcite, Quartz and Fluorite articles. I made them all in the same format. Feel free to shoot at it, I'm open for constructive criticism.

Cheers

Harjo]]>Harjo NeutkensBest Minerals - GeneralSun, 21 Jun 2009 22:39:20 +0100http://www.mindat.org/forum.php?read,63,120714,140090#msg-140090Re: General comments about the Best Minerals forumhttp://www.mindat.org/forum.php?read,63,120714,140090#msg-140090
Rock CurrierBest Minerals - GeneralMon, 01 Jun 2009 12:35:16 +0100http://www.mindat.org/forum.php?read,63,120714,140088#msg-140088Re: General comments about the Best Minerals forumhttp://www.mindat.org/forum.php?read,63,120714,140088#msg-140088
Well, to be honest, I was thinking the same, with all due respect for the people who are working on it.

If you take the Avicennite, the same pic is in both databases and I doubt that specimens get any better than this.

Take care and best regards.

Paul.]]>Paul De BondtBest Minerals - GeneralMon, 01 Jun 2009 12:01:05 +0100http://www.mindat.org/forum.php?read,63,120714,140086#msg-140086Re: General comments about the Best Minerals forumhttp://www.mindat.org/forum.php?read,63,120714,140086#msg-140086
Rock CurrierBest Minerals - GeneralMon, 01 Jun 2009 11:57:14 +0100http://www.mindat.org/forum.php?read,63,120714,140079#msg-140079Re: General comments about the Best Minerals forumhttp://www.mindat.org/forum.php?read,63,120714,140079#msg-140079
I was thinking the other day, when I was doing the articles about Vantasselite and Ferristrunzite, that we should watch out that the "best minerals" don't become a second Mindat database inside Mindat. When working on rare minerals I found out that the articles pretty much tend to reflect the photos and info that are already on the actual Mindat page. What do you think?

Cheers

Harjo]]>Harjo NeutkensBest Minerals - GeneralMon, 01 Jun 2009 10:33:11 +0100http://www.mindat.org/forum.php?read,63,120714,139958#msg-139958Re: General comments about the Best Minerals forumhttp://www.mindat.org/forum.php?read,63,120714,139958#msg-139958
I tend to agree with you and don't often put in such pricing information, but I also think to ignore it is to divorce Best Minerals from a substantial chunk of reality. Every collector who buys minerals, and that means almost all of us face this every time we go to a mineral show, and of course big time when it comes to disposing of our collections or offering guidance to your children or wives who must try and get a decent price for our specimens. I thought of having a separate section for pricing alone, but decided against it in favor for the occasional estimate of price of the occasional hammer price at an auction. If we can't make value judgments about what specimens are worth, how can we make value judgments about what the best minerals are, which is what this whole Best Minerals thing is about. I do think however when such values are placed on specimens that is should be plane who is placing the values on them and the date. But keep complaining and making your arguments, you may be able to convince me otherwise.

Of course when you write some of the articles you could put your own value judgments to work and include just what you want to include. When authors do that here on Mindat I am reluctant to step in and change what they wrote, though I have been know to make suggestions to them from time to time. Sometimes they tell me that their English is not the best and could I help them out by cleaning up their text. In such cases I try to keep as faithful to their "voice" as I can. Beyond the more or less standard format that we have adopted I believe a range of opinion and value judgments expressed in the articles and the images the author selects will make the whole content here on Mindat a richer and more interesting experience for the user and that trying to create the whole "in my image" would be counterproductive and degrade the content.]]>Rock CurrierBest Minerals - GeneralSun, 31 May 2009 07:15:34 +0100http://www.mindat.org/forum.php?read,63,120714,139844#msg-139844Re: General comments about the Best Minerals forumhttp://www.mindat.org/forum.php?read,63,120714,139844#msg-139844
Historically, specific mineral producing localities reported generalized values for those minerals produced or sold only as needed to pacify stakeholders and/or bureaucrats. To make a blanket statement that something like said mineral can be purchased for said amount, especially when the statement is not coming from the owner of the mineral deposit or the particular specimen - is problematic, and should really be kept to that loose-knit forum dedicated to monetary valuation for specific specimens, as in the Money Grubbers.

Please, let the sellers and buyers, businessmen and bureaucrats worry about issues such as cash value, and keep the Best Minerals forum focused on what truly are the best known examples of a mineral species for a given locality. That's my two cents in the pot - ka-ching!

Scott]]>Anonymous UserBest Minerals - GeneralSat, 30 May 2009 12:21:03 +0100http://www.mindat.org/forum.php?read,63,120714,139126#msg-139126Re: General comments about the Best Minerals forumhttp://www.mindat.org/forum.php?read,63,120714,139126#msg-139126
Rock CurrierBest Minerals - GeneralMon, 25 May 2009 04:03:41 +0100http://www.mindat.org/forum.php?read,63,120714,139112#msg-139112Re: General comments about the Best Minerals forumhttp://www.mindat.org/forum.php?read,63,120714,139112#msg-139112
Rob WoodsideBest Minerals - GeneralMon, 25 May 2009 01:27:03 +0100http://www.mindat.org/forum.php?read,63,120714,130672#msg-130672Re: General comments about the Best Minerals forumhttp://www.mindat.org/forum.php?read,63,120714,130672#msg-130672
http://www.mindat.org/mesg-66-116150.html or the calcite page - http://www.mindat.org/mesg-93-130443.html )]]>David Von BargenBest Minerals - GeneralTue, 17 Mar 2009 17:24:54 +0000http://www.mindat.org/forum.php?read,63,120714,130664#msg-130664Re: General comments about the Best Minerals forumhttp://www.mindat.org/forum.php?read,63,120714,130664#msg-130664
I would like to contribute to the fluorite section, but find that I can not post to it. Does one need to make a "special application" to become a contributor to this forum?

Jesse]]>Jesse FisherBest Minerals - GeneralTue, 17 Mar 2009 15:51:04 +0000http://www.mindat.org/forum.php?read,63,120714,130482#msg-130482Re: General comments about the Best Minerals forumhttp://www.mindat.org/forum.php?read,63,120714,130482#msg-130482
This is a further response to your concern about image copyrights. If you will take another look at the actinolite thread you will see that all the images have been changed out for the new image format that automatically displays the copyright information and constrains most of the images to 600 pixals? in width. It also provides them with a nice border that makes them look a lot better. If you decide you want to work on a mineral description in one of the threads, you can vary the width of the images to what ever you want and center it left, center or right. Dave did a great job on setting it up.]]>Rock CurrierBest Minerals - GeneralMon, 16 Mar 2009 09:08:47 +0000http://www.mindat.org/forum.php?read,63,120714,130474#msg-130474Re: General comments about the Best Minerals forumhttp://www.mindat.org/forum.php?read,63,120714,130474#msg-130474
See calcite article for new style: http://www.mindat.org/mesg-93-130443.html]]>David Von BargenBest Minerals - GeneralMon, 16 Mar 2009 04:41:21 +0000http://www.mindat.org/forum.php?read,63,120714,130462#msg-130462Re: General comments about the Best Minerals forumhttp://www.mindat.org/forum.php?read,63,120714,130462#msg-130462
Sorry to contradict you, but what you are writing is simply not true. I tried clicking on the identification code below each of the pictures in the actinolite article and just got an enlarged image of the specimen with no information whatsoever. I must admit that these things are worrying me as a contributor of copyrighted images and the uncertainties created by Jolyon after "changing the rules during the game" has influenced my uploading of photos. Also previously my main aim has been to contribute to the educational side of Mindat by uploading photos of species or from localities not previously pictured in Mindat. I have so far not uploaded my best photos or the photos of my best specimens in my gallery in Mindat and will be reluctant to do so also in the future. But I realize that if others feel the same way, it could also have a negative effect on your Best minerals project.

Knut]]>Knut EldjarnBest Minerals - GeneralMon, 16 Mar 2009 00:16:57 +0000http://www.mindat.org/forum.php?read,63,120714,130456#msg-130456Re: General comments about the Best Minerals forumhttp://www.mindat.org/forum.php?read,63,120714,130456#msg-130456
All the images have captions, and those captions if you click on them will take you directly to the image which has the full information about that article including the copyright information. Many of the images that are in the Best Minerals articles were imported into the thread postings using what I call the old style image import system. About three days ago, Dave made a new method of importing images into the the thread postings for us, available through the little red rubelite icon just to the left of the smiley face on the tool bar above where we type in this stuff and when the images are imported with that method, the copyright information is automatically included below the image along with space for the caption. As time permits, the old style images will be replaced with the new style and you won't have to click on the caption to find the copyright information.]]>Rock CurrierBest Minerals - GeneralSun, 15 Mar 2009 23:38:51 +0000http://www.mindat.org/forum.php?read,63,120714,130442#msg-130442Re: General comments about the Best Minerals forumhttp://www.mindat.org/forum.php?read,63,120714,130442#msg-130442
I have a general concern about the pictures in your articles in the Best minerals forum. The pictures have been copied from the galleries in Mindat without consent or reference to the photographer or copyright. People stumbling on the articles may feel free to download the pictures to be used for other purposes without asking the Mindat members who have placed these photos in the Mindat galleries on the conditions of copyrights being respected. You should maybe discuss this issue with Jolyon.

Knut]]>Knut EldjarnBest Minerals - GeneralSun, 15 Mar 2009 22:26:52 +0000http://www.mindat.org/forum.php?read,63,120714,130424#msg-130424Re: General comments about the Best Minerals forumhttp://www.mindat.org/forum.php?read,63,120714,130424#msg-130424
Thortvetite and Davidite would be a good place for you to start. I have created threads in the D & T minerals for you get started on. All you have to do is to add a reply to those thread entries and you will be on your way. Just keep editing your thread entry till you get it in good shape. You will find that creating these articles is a wonderful way to learn about minerals. You will also find that as you progress, that others may add their comments to the thread and help provide you with good information that you can incorporate into your articles. Ill check up on your progress from time to time and perhaps make suggestion about changes you might wish to make or add tips about how to make your work easier.

A good place to start is to read about those minerals in general reference books or on the net. This will help you generate the general text about the mineral before moving on to that of specific localities. Also go through the photo galleries here on mindat and select out those images that you think are the best and copy their Photo numbers into a notepad for easy retrieval and use when you are adding the images to your text.

You can send me a private message if you need some help, or just make a new reply to the thread you are working on and I will see it and can answer any questions you might have.]]>Rock CurrierBest Minerals - GeneralSun, 15 Mar 2009 20:30:45 +0000http://www.mindat.org/forum.php?read,63,120714,130404#msg-130404Re: General comments about the Best Minerals forumhttp://www.mindat.org/forum.php?read,63,120714,130404#msg-130404
Please note that my knowledge and experience on locations outside Norway is close to non-existing. The best way for me to start is probably to fill in information on some of the Norwegian locations for the already existing locations, such as Actinolite- Altermark, Anatase- Hardangervidda, Aegirin- Rundemyr and others, Aeschynite-Y- Iveland & Hidra & Vesuvianite Kristiansand.

Starting from skratch with a new article, minerals like Thortveitite or Davidite may be a good start, both which are rare minerals with a limited number of known locations.

:)

Olav]]>Olav RevheimBest Minerals - GeneralSun, 15 Mar 2009 13:45:16 +0000http://www.mindat.org/forum.php?read,63,120714,130388#msg-130388Re: General comments about the Best Minerals forumhttp://www.mindat.org/forum.php?read,63,120714,130388#msg-130388
Yes, the amount of work is overwhelming and the reason that have been pushing to place it in a format like this is to 1. Provide a place where information relating the ten questions can be placed.

1. What is the largest crystal of the mineral that the locality has produced? 2. What do the best specimens from this locality look like and where can one be seen? 3. Does the locality produce a variety of different kinds of specimens of this species, and what do the best of each type look like and how many of them were found etc. 4. What are the associated minerals found with this species and what is its geological setting? 5. How abundant are these specimens and when were they found? A type locality? In other words, how rare are they. 6. How do they compare to other specimens of the same mineral from other localities? 7. How much is it worth. This should probably be optional, but in cases where specimens are worth thousands of dollars we should probably say something of the value of these things. 8. What kind of care and feeding do these specimens require? Are they delicate, radioactive, unstable, color changeable etc.?9. Are the specimens commonly faked, and if so, how to tell if they are? 10. Are there any interesting stories relating to the collecting of these specimens or their discovery as a new mineral?

And 2. To find people who can help generate the actual content of the various articles about the various minerals and to moderate the efforts of others.

Olav, I would be glad is you could help with the effort. You can understand that this project is way beyond the ability of any single person. If you would like to get involved, to start with, pick out a particular you would like to work on and write it up using the exampled format in the Aluminum article. Read over my introductory comments and let me know what you would like to work on and Ill help you get started how ever I can. Initially respond here, and then we will open a thread for the mineral of your choice and we can continue the dialog in that forum.]]>Rock CurrierBest Minerals - GeneralSun, 15 Mar 2009 09:43:06 +0000http://www.mindat.org/forum.php?read,63,120714,130205#msg-130205Re: General comments about the Best Minerals forumhttp://www.mindat.org/forum.php?read,63,120714,130205#msg-130205
If there is anything I can do to assist on Norwegian minerals and/or locations, please let me know.

If that is correct, then my suggestion of an index page would be a sticky topic?

RegardsSteve]]>Steve SorrellBest Minerals - GeneralFri, 13 Mar 2009 07:18:49 +0000http://www.mindat.org/forum.php?read,63,120714,130181#msg-130181Re: General comments about the Best Minerals forumhttp://www.mindat.org/forum.php?read,63,120714,130181#msg-130181
David Von BargenBest Minerals - GeneralFri, 13 Mar 2009 03:13:55 +0000http://www.mindat.org/forum.php?read,63,120714,130168#msg-130168Re: General comments about the Best Minerals forumhttp://www.mindat.org/forum.php?read,63,120714,130168#msg-130168
One potential issue that I can see relates to the way entries are displayed in forums (ie: not alphabetically). It would be very easy to end up with duplicate entries, particularly as more information is added, as it is easy to miss a mineral name. This problem will be lessened when there are links from the species pages.

Perhaps a solution may be to have a sticky post called (eg) Best Minerals - A Index, at the beginning of each forum where minerals are listed (in one post) alphabetically. For example, were I to add another azurite locality (eg: Morocco), I would insert that in between azurite Bisbee and azurite Tsumeb by editing the post or index (as per example below). We could get smart and have these entries link directly to the indiviual posts. It would be a sort of Table of Contents with clickable entries.